Esri Young Scholar Award

NZ Esri Young Scholar

The Esri Young Scholar Award is about recognising the very best GIS students around the globe. Every year, Esri's global partners nominate 25 university students for excellence in relation to a GIS project. These projects include comprehensive research papers, software development, impactful maps, and apps that promote education, conservation, disaster response, and urban planning.

NZ Esri Young Scholar Award 2017 – Winner

This year Eagle Technology had the honour of reviewing some really outstanding work from NZ students at universities across the country.

This process resulted in a fantastic winner along with some awesome commendations. So, Eagle Technology is pleased to announce Leigh McKenzie of the University of Otago as the Winner of the NZ Esri Young Scholar Award 2017.

To recognise this achievement, Leigh will be attending the Esri Education Conference and Esri User Conference in San Diego in July 2017. We look forward to hearing Leigh’s reflections on the conferences on her return.

Leigh’s project entitled Using a Geodatabase to Assess Vulnerability to Sea Level Rise in Greater South Dunedin focused on a subject that potentially has serious repercussions for many low lying areas of New Zealand. ArcGIS was utilised in her project to provide further understanding about what could go on in South Dunedin as sea levels rise. She approached this subject in a way that involved the community and enabled organisations, such as Otago Regional Council, and individuals to make more informed decisions based upon locational data and analysis. The data and results were formatted successfully in a geodatabase using the ArcGIS Platform enabling better geographic information recordkeeping.

Thank you to all the other young scholars who applied for the NZ Esri Young Scholar Award in 2017. Your submissions were of the highest standard yet and made the judge’s job in choosing the best project very difficult.

A final thank you to Tony Moore of the University of Otago, guest judge on the NZ Esri Young Scholar Award 2017 judging panel.